Germany 'rebuilding pillars' of national security

This blog is now closed. Here is a roundup of top stories from and about Germany on Thursday September 10, 2026:

More UAE -related news amid Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed's visit to Berlin.

Germany's government has approved the Emirates airline in future flying into "a fifth German airport," according to a statement issued amid the visit.

The government does not explicitly name Berlin's BER airport, but the airline had been expressing a wish to add Berlin to its list of destinations for years.

It would also make geographical sense, seeing as Emirates already flies into Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf and Hamburg, leaving the most obvious gap in its coverage in the northeast and near the German capital.

"The additional flights for the airline are limited to a maximum of seven per week," Transport Minister Steffen Bilger said. "At the same time we are excluding the possiblity of flight offerings from the airport to third countries." In other words, that means Emirates will only be permitted to operate Berlin flights to and from UAE.

The state of Brandenburg's Transport Ministry responded positively, saying the move "creates the conditions for a regular Emirates connection to the Berlin-Brandenburg airport."

Berlin's Mayor Kai Wegner said the daily fligths would "bring two economic growth regions even closer together."

German flag carrier Lufthansa , which had long resisted such a move, responded critically, saying the agreement "relocates economic productivity and jobs to the Gulf and further strengthens unfair competition."

Lufthansa accuses Gulf airlines like Emirates and Qatar Airways of not operating on a level playing field for a variety of reasons, it had been lobbying the German government to restrict their access not expand it.

Police deployed outside the Ukrainian consulate in Düsseldorf on Thursday evening, cordoning off a stretch of road near the building for around two hours.

Düsseldorf is the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia and so is home to a host of consulates.

A police spokeswoman said that officers were responding to an indication of a potential threat. She said that the operation began at around 5:30 p.m. (1530 GMT).

Multiple police vehicles could be seen at the site and police restricted access to the immediate vicinity during the operation.

Authorities said that police searched the building and the environs but that the indication of a threat could not be corroborated. The operation was therefore brought to a halt at around 7:15 p.m..

The Social Democrat (SPD) mayoral candidate for the upcoming elections in the city-state of Berlin , Steffen Krach, has said he will still compete in the election as planned.

This is despite the news that Krach is facing an investigation on suspicion of corruption, which came to light as three properties connected to him including his family home were searched on Wednesday.

"I will continue to fight for every vote for the SPD," Krach said, as party leaders like Lars Klingbeil and Franziska Giffey also voiced support.

Krach admitted the timing of the news could scarcely have been worse, saying he wanted to focus on his policy plans and the challenges Berlin faces, but "now, sadly, that's all taking a back seat."

Krach held a press conference in Berlin on Thursday and explained why he believed he was under investigation, also asserting that he believed he had done nothing wrong and that he had nothing to hide.

Krach told reporters that he thinks the probe revolves around a €9,900 (roughly $11,500) donation to the SPD that was returned to the donor shortly after it was given.

He said it hailed from a person who was bidding for a government contract in Lower Saxony and who Krach had supported.

Krach said that a few days after the donation was given, when he found out who it hailed from, he ordered that it be returned. He said he could demonstrate it was repaid, and shared the documentation with Berlin's RBB public broadcaster.

The would-be donor also ultimately did not win the tender, Krach said.

Krach also said that he did not report having returned the donation to its source, and said he did not know if he was obliged to do so, saying that would be up to prosecutors to determine. "For me, the case was closed with the return of the money," he said.

Prosecutors have for now only said that Krach has been under investigation since September 3 on suspicion of bribery-related offenses, and stressed that the presumption of innocence applies as always.

The news has struck in the midst of a close-run election in Berlin where five parties, the SPD, the Left Party, the CDU, the AfD and the Greens, all could still harbor at least some hopes of emerging as the largest single party if the final phase of campaigning goes well.

Germany's medal hopes at home in the FIBA women's basketball World Cup remain on track.

The hosts beat Belgium 93-74 in the third quarterfinal game of the day.

Deadeye shooting from distance propelled the team to victory as Germany shot an impressive 61% from 3-point range, and an extremely reliable 87% from the free throw line.

Nyara Sabally and Lenoie Fiebich both provided double doubles for their team, with Sabally scoring 16 and grabbing 12 rebounds while Fiebich scored 17 and gobbled up 10 boards.

Australia and Spain are yet to play in the last quarterfinal of the day, the US and France are already through to the final four.

According to the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences and the regional earthquake service, an earthquake measuring at least 3.3 shook the Mannheim area in western Germany.

The earthquake service for the southwest of Germany reported a "weak earthquake" at 5:27 p.m. (15:27 GMT) near the city of Worms in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate .

A dpa reporter in Worms reported that the tremor was clearly felt inside buildings in the city center. The buildings shook for several seconds. Initial information from emergency services indicates that no damage was reported.

A police spokesman told dpa that they had received multiple calls as a result of the tremor but no reports of damage or injury.

The earthquake was likely to have been discernible within a 20-kilometer (roughly 12.5-mile) radius of the epicenter, according to the authorities.

Minor earthquakes are deceptively common in most of Germany, with the north and northeast least likely to be affected. Most of them are so small that they can barely be felt, however.

Larger quakes are very rare: Since 1911, only around 10 quakes above magnitude 5 are on record, the most recent a 2004 tremor in the southwestern Waldkirch area near Lake Constance and the Swiss border. Magnitude 5 is typically seen as the level at which a quake can potentially become threatening in the right circumstances.

During President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's state visit to Berlin, it was announced by Emirati officials and the German government that the United Arab Emirates plans to invest €40 billion (roughly $46.5 billion) in Germany.